Child Okeford, Dorset

Historical Description

Child-Okeford, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Stour, near Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, 3½ miles ESE of Sturminster. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Blandford. Acreage, 1573; population, 789. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £270. The church was thoroughly restored in 1879, and in 1888 six new bells were hung in commemoration of the Queen's jubilee. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1653. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).

Churches

Church of England

St. Nicholas (parish church)

The parish church of St. Nicholas is a plain edifice of stone in the Norman and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells, hung in 1887 to commemorate the Jubilee of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, the old bells having been used in the recasting: the chancel walls were covered with marble and alabaster in 1912 to commemorate the Coronation of H.M. King George V.: the pulpit was presented by H. S. Bower esq. and the organ by E. Clay-Ker-Seymer esq.: the east window is a memorial to George and Elizabeth Peach and their daughter: there are 398 sittings.

St Nicholas, Child Okeford

St Nicholas, Child Okeford

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Childe Okeford was in Sturminster Registration District from 1837 to 1974

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Child Okeford from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Okeford, Child (St. Nicholas))
• Hunt & Co.'s Directory of Dorsetshire, Hampshire, & Wiltshire 1851

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Child Okeford are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the Dorset County Chronicle and the Sherborne Mercury online.

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.